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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 2, whole no. 8, March-April 1947
Page 14
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Addenda to "Utopias Made to Order" Bob Stein's colorfully hecto'd cover for Stfist #7 was quite good, I thot, tho the title lettering doesn't look very painstakingly done. But cover drawings like this are a big improvement over simply mimeo designs. In reading over "Utopias Made to Order", yours truly can see that he didn't completely succeed in bringing out the point of the article -- that is, that political movements in fandom have been greatly influenced by the proz. Also, I made a coupla overly-sweeping generalizations which should've been clarified. Nonetheless, the main thoughts are there, and I'm looking forward to comments on it in next issue's letter section. It should be definitely pointed out that mentions of Technocracy, Communism, &c in the same section as the references to the Cosmic Circle and the Animalists wasn't intended to imply any criticism -- either pro or con -- of the aims of the aforementioned political movements. Ackerman's review of Stapledon's new book proved interesting and informative. Stapledon's later work, like that of Wells, seems to be becoming more and more fraught with scientific mysticism, a sign nor overly healthy, in the opinion of this 'umble one. Among the Classics was hyper, and I enjoyed every bit of it. More please -- this feature is rapidly becoming one of the best columns in fanzinedom, if not the. "Gone and Forgotten": tsk! another serial. The remarks on Rocklynne's "Darkness" series in Astsh hit the nail on the head -- can't see why these really excellent yarns haven't been generally acknowledged as the semi-classics that they are. Like Kuttner's "False Dawn" (TWS), Patzer's "Ship From Nowhere" (Gernsback booklet), Geier's "Enigma of the City" (AS), the Darkness series seems consigned to the oblivion of the seldom-read sections of pulp collectors' mag stacks. In fact, I think Rocklynne is a vastly underated writer -- like anybody else in the field, he's done his share of un-memorable tales, but I think I'll remember the skillfully developed and convincing atmosphere of his earlier Hallmyer tales in Planet as long as anything yet read in the pulps. Stein's article on general semantics didn't contain much concerning Weinbaum, the title of the piece to the contrary. However, Bob made a very good point. This is easily the best thing RLS has written yet. If Stfist awarded originals like the Vizigraph, my votes for best letters in For 'Em & Agin 'Em would go to (1) Hodgkins, (2) Stevenson, and (3) Boggs, with an additional nod to Al Lopez's missive. Hodgkins is obviously pretty well steamed up over fan apathy for Tech'y, but his comments on fan critics strike uncomfortably close to home. Searles' review of Escape on Venus winds up another high-quality issue, for which congrats to ye. Leave us hope for longer editorial ramblings nextime, tho. What happened to the last-issue ratings? Personally, I yam glad Stfist won a high place in the recent Fantasy Review poll -- for it most certainly deserved it, to put it mildly. Joe Kennedy, 84 Baker Avenue, Dover, New Jersey. "The Green Man" Disposed of I won't comment on the January issue in detail; it didn't seem quite up to the par, though. Of course you just have to do what you can with the material you get. Al Lopez in speaking of "Ast. Stories" presumably means Astonishing Stories, that being the only magazine to appear with such a title during modern times; the context though would better seem to fit aSF, which ceased to be Astounding Stories some nine year ago. Or maybe Lopez has been ripvanwinkling for the last decade. I had thought the "Astounding" in aSF's title pretty harmless in its present diminished form, but apparently it will have to be dropped entirely to cure certain die-hard antiquarians of the habit of referring to the magazine as "Astounding". Lopez's sober and evidently perfectly sincere comparison of "The Green Man" with Agharti" is either laughable or irritating, according to how you look at it. Hauser, as Palmer has been quick to point out, is a writer of sufficient liter- page 14
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Addenda to "Utopias Made to Order" Bob Stein's colorfully hecto'd cover for Stfist #7 was quite good, I thot, tho the title lettering doesn't look very painstakingly done. But cover drawings like this are a big improvement over simply mimeo designs. In reading over "Utopias Made to Order", yours truly can see that he didn't completely succeed in bringing out the point of the article -- that is, that political movements in fandom have been greatly influenced by the proz. Also, I made a coupla overly-sweeping generalizations which should've been clarified. Nonetheless, the main thoughts are there, and I'm looking forward to comments on it in next issue's letter section. It should be definitely pointed out that mentions of Technocracy, Communism, &c in the same section as the references to the Cosmic Circle and the Animalists wasn't intended to imply any criticism -- either pro or con -- of the aims of the aforementioned political movements. Ackerman's review of Stapledon's new book proved interesting and informative. Stapledon's later work, like that of Wells, seems to be becoming more and more fraught with scientific mysticism, a sign nor overly healthy, in the opinion of this 'umble one. Among the Classics was hyper, and I enjoyed every bit of it. More please -- this feature is rapidly becoming one of the best columns in fanzinedom, if not the. "Gone and Forgotten": tsk! another serial. The remarks on Rocklynne's "Darkness" series in Astsh hit the nail on the head -- can't see why these really excellent yarns haven't been generally acknowledged as the semi-classics that they are. Like Kuttner's "False Dawn" (TWS), Patzer's "Ship From Nowhere" (Gernsback booklet), Geier's "Enigma of the City" (AS), the Darkness series seems consigned to the oblivion of the seldom-read sections of pulp collectors' mag stacks. In fact, I think Rocklynne is a vastly underated writer -- like anybody else in the field, he's done his share of un-memorable tales, but I think I'll remember the skillfully developed and convincing atmosphere of his earlier Hallmyer tales in Planet as long as anything yet read in the pulps. Stein's article on general semantics didn't contain much concerning Weinbaum, the title of the piece to the contrary. However, Bob made a very good point. This is easily the best thing RLS has written yet. If Stfist awarded originals like the Vizigraph, my votes for best letters in For 'Em & Agin 'Em would go to (1) Hodgkins, (2) Stevenson, and (3) Boggs, with an additional nod to Al Lopez's missive. Hodgkins is obviously pretty well steamed up over fan apathy for Tech'y, but his comments on fan critics strike uncomfortably close to home. Searles' review of Escape on Venus winds up another high-quality issue, for which congrats to ye. Leave us hope for longer editorial ramblings nextime, tho. What happened to the last-issue ratings? Personally, I yam glad Stfist won a high place in the recent Fantasy Review poll -- for it most certainly deserved it, to put it mildly. Joe Kennedy, 84 Baker Avenue, Dover, New Jersey. "The Green Man" Disposed of I won't comment on the January issue in detail; it didn't seem quite up to the par, though. Of course you just have to do what you can with the material you get. Al Lopez in speaking of "Ast. Stories" presumably means Astonishing Stories, that being the only magazine to appear with such a title during modern times; the context though would better seem to fit aSF, which ceased to be Astounding Stories some nine year ago. Or maybe Lopez has been ripvanwinkling for the last decade. I had thought the "Astounding" in aSF's title pretty harmless in its present diminished form, but apparently it will have to be dropped entirely to cure certain die-hard antiquarians of the habit of referring to the magazine as "Astounding". Lopez's sober and evidently perfectly sincere comparison of "The Green Man" with Agharti" is either laughable or irritating, according to how you look at it. Hauser, as Palmer has been quick to point out, is a writer of sufficient liter- page 14
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